William e



(No-Model.

W. E. DAVIES 82; W. O. GAYLEY.

TWO WHEELED VEHICLE. No.ss4,21 9. Patented Jan. 12, 1886? I fi Q INVENTOR: We??? ATTORNEYS.

Fries.

ATENT \VILLIAM E. DAVIES AND \VILLIAM O. GAYLEY, OF DER-INGER, PA.

TWO-WHEELED VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 334,219, dated January 12, 1886.

Application filed May 19, 1685. Serial No. 166,041. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM E. DAVIES and WILLIAM C. GAYLEY, both of Deringer, county of Luzerne, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Thills for Two-Wheeled Vehicles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of our invention is to neutralize or overcome horse-motion in two-wheeled vehicles, and to relieve the horse, to a certain extent, of the great amount of weight upon his back, which is manifested in going downhill, by transferring this weight from the saddle of the harness to the holdbackstraps, as with four-wheeled vehicles.

The invention consists in making the thills in two parts or sections hinged together and provided with a spring attachment, as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one of our sectional thills. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detailed side elevation of a part of the thill. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation taken on the line x m, Fig. 2.

In constructing the thill A we cut it just in front of the crosspiece 13 to form the two sections to b, and to the under side of the two sections attach a hinge, O, which couples the two sections a I) together, but permits the forward section, b, to have up-and-down movement independent of the rear section, a, and next to the plates 0 c of the hinge we place the strengthening or reenforcing plates 01 01, held by bolts 0 e and clip f, for re-enforcing the plates 0, as hereinafter described.

To the upper sideof the two sections a I) of the thill we attach a finely-tempered steel spring, D, which is firmly clipped and bolted to the section a by the clips f f and bolt 9. The bolt 9 extends down through section a and rear plate 0 of hinge G, firmly securing it, and the clip f encircles the rear end of the spring D, the section a, and the rear plate 0, and clip f encircles these parts and also the rear plate d, so that the hinge, spring, and

plate (1 are all held to section a by the same bolts and clips. The strength of the spring D may be increased or diminished by the addition or removal of leaves D, as will be understood from Figs. 1 and 2. The spring D describes the arc of a circle and meets the forward section, b, as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2, and rests at its forward end upon an iron or steel chafe-plate, h, attached to the upper surface of the section b to give the spring a smooth hard surface, over which the point (2 of the spring may move with little resistance.

The terminal end of the spring is turned back or rolled to receive the bolt t, which passes through the clip j, that encircles section b, and is loose thereon to permit the necessary play of the spring in the up-and-down movement of the section b with the up-and-down movement of the horse. The plate h is held to the section b by the bolts Z, which also serve to hold the forward plate, a, of the hinge O, and also the forward re-enforcing or strengthening plate, (Z. To diminish friction of the movable clip j on the side surface of the section b, we provide the said surfaces with plates m m, as shown in Fig. 4.

By making the thills in sections we break and entirely destroy the path through or by which the horse-motion is conducted to the body or seat of the vehicle. The motion of the section I), not being permitted to travel directly to section a, must necessarily be transmitted over spring D, so that the spring neutralizes this motion before it reaches the rear section of the thills, therefore entirely preventing the up-and-down movement from reaching the body of the vehicle. The hinge 0, connecting the sections, also assists in neutralizing the horse-motion, since it permits the forward section, b, to rise and fall correspondingly to the gait of the horse. The movable clip j, attached to spring D, serves to keep the forward end of the spring in place and supports the rear end of the forward section, b, in turning the vehicle, and the plates (2 d prevent too much downward strain on the spring and strengthen the hinge, especially in backing the vehicle and in going downhill, for in these cases the line of force may tend to fall below the horizontal line of the thill and throw a heavy strain from below upward, which requires the hinge to be re-enforced. In going downhill the forward section, b, bends upward at the hinge O and prevents the weight of the load from coming upon the horses back, so that almost the entire holdback -strai11 comes upon the holdback-straps of the harness, and thus re1ieves the horse to a great extent and makes the vehicle easier riding.

Having thus described our invention, we

10 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The thill A, made of sections ct b,attached by hinge G, in combination with the spring D made fast to section a, and attached at its forward end to section b by movable clip j, substantially as described.

2. The sections a b of the thill hinged together by hinge O, in combination with spring D, and re-enforcing plates 01 d, attached to the plates of the hinge, substantially as and for 20 the purposes described.

WILLIAM E. DAVIES.

\VILLIAM G. GAYLEY.

\Vitnesses:

CHARLES Gram, G. W. KLINE. 

